The Office of Senator Ricardo Lara announced today that, joined by Assembly colleagues Anthony Rendon and Patrick O’Donnell, the 33rd Senate District representative has called for an immediate independent investigation into the recent electrical outages that left residents and businesses in the city without power for nearly four days.

According to the announcement, the request was made in a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission, the state regulatory body responsible for oversight of electric utilities. The letter calls for a comprehensive review of the causes of the recent outages.

“This incident has left us with a lot of questions,” said Lara in a press statement. “What caused these outages, were they preventable, was the utility prepared to respond, has the problem been addressed, is it likely to happen again? Our community deserves answers.”

The power outage began on Wednesday, July 15 and left some residents and businesses without electricity for over 72 hours.

Read the letter in its entirety below.

Senator Ricardo Lara Calls for Independent Investigation of Long Beach Power Outages